


Flying Fish

by akire_yta



Series: prompt ficlets [261]
Category: The Martian - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-05-27
Packaged: 2018-07-10 12:40:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6985528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akire_yta/pseuds/akire_yta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>preludeinz prompted: Mark Watney’s continued ruminations on Aquaman.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Fish

 

Vijay’s somewhere in his 45th hour of transcribing what had come to be known as The Watney Tapes, even though tape was something that went out with Vijay’s grandfather.

He’s been clocking steady hours on them ever since they were delivered, copies off the original hard drive that was now locked up in cleanroom vault storage, secured for perpetuity.

Vijay’s boss has the entire team working, transcribing and meta data, logging and cataloguing.  Everyone wants them, but NASA’s not releasing anything until they know exactly what Watney said.

Mostly, it seemed to Vijay, Watney just talked a load of bullshit.

They’re all on this, headphones clamped to their heads, eyes glued to the screen, so it’s not like he’s getting the story in chronological order.  He’s just getting whatever log is next on the pile.  Watney’s face, hair, weight, the plants in the background, all jump and change from one log to the next. The narrative is disconnected, but Vijay’s learned to pick up the way Watney’s voice changes, from serious logs to rambling monlogues that seemed to be the primary way the crazy SOB stayed sane.

“Aquaman is bullshit,” the log begins.

Vijay pauses, half standing in his seat.  “I’ve got an Aquaman!”

The team stumble to gather around his workstation, Ann pausing to mark another tally on the whiteboard that runs along the far wall.

Aquaman is some of their favourite bullshit.

Vijay tugs his headphones out of the jack and taps _play._ “Fucking flying fish, man. He rides those bad boys like they’re fucking hovercraft.  Do they go zoom zoom, or squish squish?  What the everloving fuck….”

They haven’t told the adminosphere about all the _fucks_  and the rambling tangents, and the treatises on obscure superheroes.  They can sort it all out and make it safe for public consumption later.  Right now, he listened and laughed, and was grateful he’d set a hotkey for _fuck_  way back on day one of transcription.


End file.
